But sloppy play in the Panthers' end allowed defenseman Luke Schenn to pick it off at the blue line where his shot handcuffed Clemmensen at 19:47 and a commanding 5-1 lead after two.

"The NHL's a strong league, fast, you got to battle for every puck, knowing you're going to get it,'' defenseman Mike Weaver said. "It's embarassing, it's not Panthers hockey. Our fans come out expecting to see something like last season. That's our standard right now. We got to be better than that and we haven't.''

With Jerred Smithson serving a penalty, Read slapped in another at :54 of the third for the first hat trick against Florida since Lightning's Martin St Louis on Feb. 4, 2012. Ruslan Fedotenko's tip-in at 8:00 had fans wondering where goalie-in-waiting Jacob Markstrom was.

The 'Lets Go Flyers' chants sent the Panthers off the ice.

Dineen said Weiss was coming, "along slowly,'' but Versteeg is probable for Tampa on Tuesday. Their third member, Tomas Fleischmann, missed practice Friday with a stitched-up left foot but gutted it out.

"Today was two desperate teams fighting against each other and they worked harder than us,'' said Fleischmann, who had five shots on net.

Bergenheim mystery

The Panthers remain mum on the current status of forward Sean Bergenheim, who is on the suspended list and not eligible to collect any of his $2.75 million salary until he is deemed fit to play.

A source told the Sun-Sentinel that Bergenheim has a two-part medical grievance with the Panthers and it may take up to a month for a decision to be made by an independent arbitrator used by the NHL and NHL Player's Association.